Start Doing This to Benefit from Millennial Engagement

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Engagement. Engagement. Engagement.

It’s all the hype these days, especially with the workplace changing and remote working situations on the rise. And rightfully so.

A five-point increase in employee engagement is linked to a 3% growth in revenue, according to a recent report by Aon. The study also revealed that global employee engagement levels dropped for the first time in five years. This isn’t good for businesses. As engagement falls, so does financial performance.

This isn’t due to a lack of engagements surveys and information. We spend at least $1B a year on employee engagement surveys.[1] Yet accordingly to Forbes, most companies say they aren’t getting the value they want.  The Workplace Genome Project estimates that 40% of HR professionals rarely do anything meaningful with engagement data results. Why?

Because these studies don’t measure underlying, root causes. These studies measure symptoms and outcomes. So, while the data may be interesting, it gives no insight into where a problem should be addressed, or what to do about it. Engagement doesn’t necessarily mean employee satisfaction. However, by understanding your millennial employees and getting to know them, you can engage them in ways that lead to feeling satisfied in the workplace.

According to research by the Teleos Leadership Institute, employees want 3 things:

  1. A meaningful vision of the future
  2. A sense of purpose
  3. Great relationships

An effective system of monitoring employee engagement will measure all 3 of these components. There are a lot of different factors and data points that can be analyzed and dissected. You want to make sure you are measuring the ones that are relevant and have a direct relationship with your employee engagement. Gallup has what they call the Q12 to measure engagement which include the following questions:

  • I know what is expected of me at work.
  • At work, my opinions seem to count.
  • I have the materials and equipment I need to do my work right.
  • The mission or purpose of my company makes me feel my job is important.
  • At work, I have the opportunity to do what I do best every day.
  • My associates or fellow employees are committed to doing quality work.
  • In the last seven days, I have received recognition or praise for doing good work.
  • I have a best friend at work.
  • My supervisor, or someone at work, seems to care about me as a person.
  • In the last six months, someone at work has talked to me about my progress.
  • There is someone at work who encourages my development.
  • This last year, I have had opportunities at work to learn and grow.

Once you understand engagement levels, you can then work to improve them. The only way to do that is by understanding your millennials employees, and what specific strategies lead to better engagement. Here are some strategies that will improve millennial employee engagement.

Ask Tough Questions to Understand Your Millennials

While perks and benefits may appeal to millennials, by themselves they will not engage and keep them over a long period of time. From the day you interview your millennial employees and onward, be proactive. Ask them questions in order to understand what drives them personally. Why does this matter?

Knowing what motivates or demoralizes certain employees allows you to create an ideal workplace environment and keep an eye on your employees. You can be strategic in what tasks you give to who, how often you show appreciation, whether or not to give them tough love, and when give them more space. Some of your millennials may value flexible hours over pay, while others are more motivated by commission opportunities. You can increase engagement among your millennial employees by asking tough questions. Learn what drives them.

Some examples of questions to ask are:

  • What are you passionate about?
  • Do you prefer working in a structured, or more casual environment?
  • Where do you think you can add the most value?
  • What are your goals?

Provide Feedback on a Regular Basis

Performance management and senior leadership were the two weakest engagement points for companies in North America, according to Aon’s 2017 Trends in Global Employee Engagement. Focus on improving these “weak points” by improving your communication with millennial employees. Consider designing a system or schedule to ensure you are proactive in engaging with your millennials. A feedback strategy is a great way to stay updated with your millennials. By doing this, you can better recognize pain points and solve them, address certain needs, and more.

Leadership and management can be improved by providing consistent feedback to your millennials. A feedback strategy will make it 10 x easier. This isn’t to say you will only engage with them when your schedule says too. However, it will help you stay relevant and engaged in your relationships, which will therefore improve your leadership and management, which will improve engagement.

Data is useless if you don’t know what it means, or don’t know what to do with it. Understand that millennial engagement in the workplace is directly correlated with revenue growth. Make an effort to engage your millennials by measuring the aspects of engagement that matter most. Learn about what drives your millennials. Get to know them by asking tough questions. Communicate with them on a regular basis. Be strategic and create a feedback system to make sure you’re on top of it. By focusing on your millennial engagement, your company will benefit.

 

[1] http://www.workxo.com/blog/post/177-engagement-not-about-how-you-work

5 Quick Ways to Keep Millennials by Compensating Them the Way they want to be Compensated

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The workplace in 2017 is changing at lightning speed. Millennials play a huge role in the major shift that is happening. The way companies conduct business is drastically different than just a decade ago. Millennials, who currently make up half of the workplace, are estimated to be 75% of the working economy in the next eight years.

An eye-opening research study by HUB International called, The Essential Guide to Compensation and Performance Practices: The Millennial Influence, illustrates important findings about what drives this generation.

Why does this matter to you? And how does this affect your company?

If you want to stay relevant, profitable, and affect change, understanding how millennials perform and how they want to be compensated matters…a lot. After looking at the key findings, we highlighted the top 5 ways to compensate millennials based on the success and feedback we’ve received at Launchbox working with over 5,000 millennials. Here they are:

1. Have Competitive Base Pay

Compensation matters to all employees, regardless of age. However, traditional compensation programs don’t motivate millennials. 68% of millennials strongly agree that their company “pays for the value and results I being to the company.”

Millennials actually want to be paid based on the value they bring. A compensation plan that includes value-based increases, instead of annual merit increases, is much more appealing to millennials. 60% of millennials say competitive base pay is the #1 factor for staying with their employer. If your company is not creating value-based incentives and compensation based on individual performance, your millennials will leave.

During our strengths and stories workshops, we hyper focus on how millennials can understand their strengths, improve upon them, and then communicate their value effectively in in WIFTthem (“What’s in it for them?”) fashion, so their employer understands the value they provide. As a millennial coach or manager, make it clear how your millennials can add value to your company, articulate it well, and therefore be paid more as a result.

2. Make Work Interesting and Challenging

Millennials are hungry for growth and development. They value career advancement, learning, and like to be challenged. Millennials, unlike previous generations, don’t see the value in merely “grinding it out” for years, and then rising to the op. They want to see a clear path to the top, and be engaged, challenged, and interested along the way.

As a millennial coach, you can create interesting and challenging work for your employees by tapping into their “intreprenuer.” Almost two-thirds of millennials wish to start their own business. They are hungry to innovate, and this can be a huge asset to any organization. Provide the structure so that millennials can experiment with new ideas and create new solutions within the company. A culture that promotes a healthy balance of structure, freedom, and feedback is attractive to millennials.

Working with thousands of millennials, we’ve found huge success in helping millennials learn to communicate their desire to innovate and improve certain areas in their company. As a manager in the workplace, make sure your millennials are comfortable coming forward with new ideas and feedback. After all, these ideas are will help your company succeed!

3. Show them a clear path to career advancement

It’s not enough to just tell millennials to work hard now and wait for success later. They need to know and be shown the opportunities available to them if you want them to stay with your company. Almost half of the HUB survey respondents said they were likely to leave their job within the next six months. The cost of this turnover is insane, and takes a heavy toll on your company.

A value-based compensation plan that rewards individual performance is a great way to appeal to millennials. It shows that they matter, and lets them understand that the sky is the limit. The more value they bring and communicate, the more money they earn. Then they get more responsibility, and more opportunities come their way. What business leader wouldn’t be excited by this?

4. Show the Connection Between Personal Impact and Success

Your millennials could be helping millions of people and earning your company millions of dollars. But if they aren’t seeing the connection between their results and the success, they will leave. Social impact and personal development are important to millennials. When they don’t feel the connection between the work they’re doing and the results they’re achieving, they feel dissatisfied. They start looking for other jobs. They leave

The cost of this disconnect and lack of engagement costs a whopping $30.5 billion to the U.S. economy.

Over half of millennials rated understanding how their own personal job directly impacts the success of the company as “very important.” Make sure your millennials can see the direct impact they are having in your company. By engaging your millennial employees in entertaining, challenging, and interesting work, they will find the purpose and challenge they are seeking. As a millennial coach, it’s up to YOU to make sure this happens…and make sure they know it’s happening.

5. Be Transparent about Compensation, Performance, and Feedback

Traditional compensation, annual merit increases, job/grade bands, and equity adjustments are NOT cutting it in 2017. As a leader in the workforce, you must change the formula if you want to succeed, and make it 100% clear to your millennials that they will be rewarded based on the value they bring to the company.

By having a transparent compensation and performance program in place from the get-go, you eliminate any confusion. Millennials need feedback. And they expect it quickly and in real time, just how they operate outside of work with social media. As a millennial expert, make it your job to engage with them regularly. Annual reviews won’t cut it. By having a clear plan in place, they will understand how their actions are direct related to their results, both personally (pay) and as a whole (company impact and success.)

Without frequent communication, millennial engagement levels drop to the floor. Over two thirds of millennials rank feedback directly from their manager as most valuable. Engagement plummets to 20% for millennials who don’t have regular meetings with their managers. As a millennial coach, make sure you are continuously engaging with your millennials and improving your relationship with them. Millennials want feedback in real time, not a month later. The quicker you can give them feedback, the better. Be real with them and give it to them straight. They appreciate tough love, as long as you show that you care.

The ways of the past aren’t working to engage and retain millennials in 2017. If you want to stay relevant, attract the top talent, and keep your successful millennial workers, compensate them the way they want to be compensated. Have competitive base pay. Have a clear compensation and performance plan in place from day one so millennials know they’ll be rewarded based on the value they bring to the company. Keep them engaged in challenging, interesting work by tapping into their “intreprenuer” and creating the space for them to excel within your company. Show them the exciting career path that lies ahead. Allow them to see and feel the impact they are directly having on both the company and the world. Be real. Be authentic. Communicate openly and often with your millennials. This is how you WIN and create kickass results.

How will next generation (millennial) clients buy legal services?

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As digital natives, the millennial generation is coming into its own. As the first generation to grow up in the digital world, their behavior and desires are different than past generations. With the Internet available 24/7 and being seconds away from reading hundreds of expert opinions, millennials are responding differently to purchasing legal services. These differences will present a very real challenge for law firms. Traditional marketing will not work to attract the attention and dollars of today’s millennials. Digital natives (millennials) bypass the typical literature, flyers, ads and sponsorships. Instead, they’re using the tools they grew up with to find the answers they need, right now.

How can your law firm effectively market to millennial clients of legal services? By understanding that millennials are digital natives, learning what they like, and how they communicate.

Strengthen Your Online Presence

While 70% of typical legal clients contact an attorney when they’re faced with a legal issue, less than half of millennials do. When millennials need legal help, they become Perry Mason (even though they don’t know who he is) and do their research. They whip out their IPhones, check Yelp, read reviews, and assess the different options available to them. Listen to this, over 63% of millennial consumers use the Internet to find an attorney. Millennials gravitate toward DIY solutions because of the power of the Internet.  They are willing to scroll and scroll until they find what they need—and the Internet provides the ease and efficiency to do so from the comfort of their own home.  Remember, “Digital Natives”.

Be Active On Social Media

Does your firm use Facebook, Instragram, and Twitter to promote and market your legal services? If not, you’re missing out. In order to stay relevant with millennials and Gen Z (Digital Natives), your company must be where they are spending time: social media. When needing legal counseling or advice, 37% of millennials used Facebook in their search. Millennials are digital ninjas with social media.

Because they grew up with social media and know how to use Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook like the back of their hand, millennials are more comfortable with using apps to find what they need. By creating eye-catching visuals, interesting blog posts, and fun videos, millennials will be more likely to engage with your service. They trust companies that speak in their language (aka tweeting, Instagram posts, YouTube videos, etc.)

Millennials spend over 3 hours per day on social media.[1] Posting just once a week won’t cut it if your company wants to stay relevant to millennials. Make an effort to consistently post and also engage with millennials. Social media is a two way street. Invite millennials to tweet back with their opinion, post their questions on Facebook, and get involved. This engagement shows that you care, and will set you apart as a company that cares, which is really, really important to millennials or digital natives.

Millennials value authenticity almost as their number one value. And the right kind of social media is a way for your company to bridge the gap, let them get to know you better, and for them to understand you want to help them. Use social media and show you’re not some faceless company, but real people, with real personalities, with real services and solutions.

Provide Value and Data Through Blogging

While less than 20% of legal customers consider blogs important, over 40% of millennials consider blogs to be a key factor in choosing an attorney. Blogs are a vehicle to express personalized and unique messages. Your company blog should reflect your voice, values, and unique solutions in a way that resonates with millennials. With a blog, you can better communicate with millennials without being pushy. Millennials can read through sale pitches and get an authentic read on your voice before they lean in. However, an interesting blog post that is engaging and provides helpful solutions is much more likely to build their trust.  Remember; again, make your story and value resonate to your audience the way they want to receive it. 

They Use Others’ Opinions to Make Buying Decisions

Millennials are tough sells. When considering an attorney, millennials consider reviews to be twice as important compared to average customers. What started with reviews of the best Mexican food on Yelp and the most durable video cameras on Amazon has now turned to almost every industry online. Millennials trust online reviews in legal services as well because, well, digital natives value authenticity. They see reviews as an honest, no BS assessment of legal services because (in most cases) reviews are unfiltered, unbiased, an independent of a company’s influence. And they’re more willing to trust a strangers’ experience using a product or service instead of first trying it out for themselves. They also can tell who is just plain bitter and a “crazy” so they can make a determination of credibility.

May we be as bold to suggest that reaching out to past clients and politely asking if they’d be willing to leave an online review is a calculated strategy that will pay off. Be personal in your request, so they feel it’s genuine and not some email blast. Suggest what you would like them to write in your review. What part of the experience would a potential millennial buyer be looking for answers in? Ask them to write about that. Be transparent and let them know you value their feedback, and that it will really help.

Legal services will always be needed. However, the way they’re being used and marketed is changing. Pay attention to how digital natives communicate. Think about what they want: authenticity, social proof (online reviews), transparency, and helpful solutions presented in a way they understand. When you understand what digital natives want, you can market your service so it appeals to them.

Looking to bridge the generational divide in the workplace and engage your millennials? Check out the recent launchbox article “4 Ways to Coach Millennials to Drive Results and Engagement.”

 

All facts in this article were pulled from the 2017 FindLaw Report titled Reaching the New Generation

 

 

 

[1] http://www.tnsglobal.com/us/press-release/tns-millenials_study_111915